Wigan Album

God love her..she was a long way from botox,false lashes and going to the gym wasn't she.

The spade looks like a no3 bulldog from English Tools.They were the best colliers spades going

that looks like a bonus spade they earned their money in them days today's young ones does not know what hard work is lol

Ron Fantastic photo

Dieting would have been a foreign concept, especially using a spade like that - just hope she went on to enjoy a long and happy life.

Women today shouldn't complain after looking at this photo. God bless her, hope she had a good life.

I'm sorting through my books after my move back to Wigan (well, Standish), and have just come across "Victorian Working Women: Portraits from Life", by Michael Hiley, 1979. It's based on the collection made by Arthur Munby, as he travelled around districts where there were women doing jobs which might be thought of as men's work. He bought cards, but also met, and recorded conversations with many of the women, and was usually able to name the subjects and pits of the portraits.
Other Cooper portraits feature the same props seen here - but some photographers visited the pits to take their shots, and the shovels are the same size.

Ron - thanks for sharing this great photo. My Mom said the pitbrow girls were a hearty lot! I hope she had a good life, too ...